KAYLEE'S mum Lesley is backing moves for a sweeping change of the fatal accident inquiry system after finding that nothing has been done to enforce the sheriff's recommendations.

The parents of a young Army cadet who drowned during a training exercise

THE mother of a teenage army cadet who drowned in a training accident wept yesterday as she attacked the way bereaved families are treated in death probes.

Kaylee McIntosh, 14, died when she was pinned under a boat on Loch Carnan, South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides, in August 2007.

The schoolgirl, from Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, was one of 34 cadets who took part in the three-boat exercise.

Now, her heartbroken mum Lesley is backing a move by MSPs for sweeping changes to the fatal accident inquiry system.

She was left “infuriated” by the FAI carried out into Kaylee’s death and is also angry that
recommendations made by Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen following the FAI have not been acted upon.

Lesley said: “We felt alienated from the system throughout the whole process.

“It was so infuriating and it is gobsmacking that nothing has been done to enforce recommendations made at the FAI.

“The system must be brought into the 21st century.”

Lesley
says her family have still not found closure – despite the man in charge of the boating operation, Major George McCallum, being fined £5000 last month.

McCallum, 52, recently admitted a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to the tragedy.

Lesley
added: “Going through the FAI was daunting. To have lost your daughter and then to have to go through that was really hard.

“We didn’t learn anything new at the FAI. It wasn’t in-depth and we weren’t told what was going on.”

One
of Scotland’s most senior judges, Lord Cullen, recommended changes to the system after a Government-commissioned review three years ago.

He
said FAIs should not be held in court buildings and that sheriffs and lawyers involved shouldn’t wear wigs and gowns. Lord Cullen also suggested FAIs should be held when Scots residents die abroad.

He said a central FAI team should be set up, led by an advocate depute or a trained senior prosecutor.

Many of Lord Cullen’s proposals have not been carried out.

Labour MSP Patricia Ferguson is bidding to win support for a raft of improvements. Her proposed
legislation
will go further than Lord Cullen’s recommendations, focusing on learning lessons for the future and allowing families to a greater role in the FAI process.

Justice
Secretary Kenny MacAskill has said he will introduce the rest of the recommendations by the end of the current parliament.

A Scottish Government spokesman added: “We will consider the content and detail of Patricia Ferguson’s proposals when they emerge after consultation.”